Question 1

Because males are more _____ than are females on a wide range of cognitive abilities,they tend to be _____ among great scientists.

Accepted Answer

A) variable;overrepresented 
B) variable;underrepresented 
C) complex;overrepresented 
D) reactive;underrepresented

Question 2

Which number represents the WEAKEST correlation coefficient (r)?

Accepted Answer

A) -.5 
B) .4 
C) -.1 
D) -2.0

Question 3

Roger wants to study whether the level of personal income predicts happiness.He operationally defines income as "the gross amount of money a person earns in a calendar year." He operationally defines happiness as "the ability of that person to stand on one leg for longer than 3 minutes." What is glaringly wrong with Roger's study?

Accepted Answer

A) It lacks validity;income can be measured,but happiness cannot. 
B) It lacks reliability;the operational definitions of the properties under study produce inconsistent measurements. 
C) It lacks validity;the operational definition of happiness is unrelated to the underlying property of happiness. 
D) It lacks reliability;it is difficult to precisely measure both income and happiness.

Question 4

To correctly measure a specific property of an object,the property must be _____ and _____.

Accepted Answer

A) defined;detected 
B) identified;researched 
C) real;measurable 
D) visible;specific

Question 5

Which researcher who completely lies about conducting a study and makes a fraudulent research claim will probably get caught?

Accepted Answer

A) The researcher who claims that the rate of food-reward size affects rats' maze running in orderly ways. 
B) The researcher who claims that taking frequent study breaks results in greater learning,even among younger children. 
C) The researcher who reports long-term mood benefits associated with the use of marijuana. 
D) The researcher who reports that college students are more likely to use prescription stimulants than are their noncollege peers.

Question 6

A property with a value that can vary or change is called a(n):

Accepted Answer

A) variable. 
B) modifier. 
C) adaptation. 
D) outlier.

Question 7

In an experiment,researchers exposed half the children to 2 hours of violence on television every day for a month and made sure the other half saw no violence on television at all.At the end of the month,they measured the level of aggressiveness in the children.What were the children who were exposed to violent television?

Accepted Answer

A) the dependent variable 
B) the independent variable 
C) the control group 
D) the experimental group

Question 8

What are the two key features to an experiment?

Accepted Answer

A) manipulation and random assignment 
B) manipulation and correlation 
C) random assignment and correlation 
D) manipulation and predictability

Question 9

If researchers measure how some American children behave after playing a violent video game for 2 hours and then replicate the experiment with Asian,European,and African children and then with teenagers,the researchers would be using which justification of nonrandom sampling?

Accepted Answer

A) Sometimes generality does not matter. 
B) Sometimes generality is the cause of the effect. 
C) Sometimes generality can be determined. 
D) Sometimes generality can be assumed.

Question 10

The statistic that describes the average distance between the measurements in a frequency distribution and the mean of that distribution is the:

Accepted Answer

A) average distance of the individual scores from the mean of the distribution. 
B) total distance of the individual scores from the mean of the distribution. 
C) range of the distribution divided by the number of observations. 
D) range of the distribution divided by the mean of the distribution.

Question 11

In an experiment,researchers exposed half of the participants to loud noise during a memory-encoding task.The room was quiet for the other half of the participants.Later,all participants were given a memory test and the number of correct items recalled was obtained for each participant.What is the dependent variable?

Accepted Answer

A) the number of items recalled 
B) the noise level during the encoding task 
C) the time interval between encoding and recall. 
D) the probability of being assigned to the two groups

Question 12

Sofia's research yielded results that are consistent with a hypothesis derived from a cognitive account of classical conditioning.Which conclusion is CORRECT regarding the theory?

Accepted Answer

A) The theory is proven. 
B) The theory may be disproven by subsequent research. 
C) The theory is unfalsified. 
D) The theory is statistically significant.

Question 13

In the number sequence 1 1 2 3 4 5,which number is the mode?

Accepted Answer

A) 4 
B) 3 
C) 1 
D) 2

Question 14

What is the BEST way to make it less likely that people will be influenced by demand characteristics?

Accepted Answer

A) pay them for their participation 
B) randomly select them from the population 
C) require that they sign their name to each survey that they complete 
D) keep them from knowing the true purpose of the observation

Question 15

In a classic experiment,psychology students were assigned to work either with "bright" rats or with "dull" rats,described as such by the experimenter.In a task involving learning a maze,rats arbitrarily labeled as "bright" learned the maze faster than did rats arbitrarily labeled as "dull." The experimenter suspected that the psychology students with "bright" rats took the learning task more seriously,and this was reflected in their rats' performance.This finding illustrates how:

Accepted Answer

A) expectations can influence observations. 
B) observations can influence measurement. 
C) expectations can influence reality. 
D) observations can influence reality.

Question 16

Cruella would not describe herself as the type of person who cares about animal rights,but she says that she does when filling out a survey for a psychologist.This illustrates that people can be highly _____ when studied.

Accepted Answer

A) dogmatic 
B) variable 
C) complex 
D) reactive

Question 17

In an experiment,researchers exposed half of the participants to loud noise during a memory-encoding task.The room was quiet for the other half of the participants.Later,all participants were given a memory test and the number of correct items recalled was obtained for each participant.The participants who encoded information in the noisy room constitute the:

Accepted Answer

A) independent variable. 
B) dependent variable. 
C) experimental group. 
D) control group.

Question 18

The chair of the psychology department wants to determine the average GPA of all psychology majors at the college.She compiles a list of the GPAs of all the psychology majors and calculates the average.The chairperson is working with data from a(n):

Accepted Answer

A) experiment. 
B) population. 
C) sample. 
D) case study.

Question 19

A social psychologist is constantly evaluating his program of research to make sure that the benefits of the research in terms of knowledge about human behavior outweigh the risks associated with mild deception.The psychologist is evaluating whether or not his research is:

Accepted Answer

A) externally valid. 
B) beneficient. 
C) just. 
D) respecting persons.

Question 20

Which statement is TRUE about the scientific method?

Accepted Answer

A) The scientific method takes a dogmatic approach to knowledge acquisition. 
B) The scientific method limits empirical observations to those consistent with a theory. 
C) The scientific method emphasizes the importance of nonempirical sources of information when constructing new theories. 
D) The scientific method uses empirical evidence to uncover new facts about the world.

Exam 2: Methods in Psychology-Part A

Because males are more _ than are females on a wide range of cognitive abilities,they tend to be _ among great scientists.

Which number represents the WEAKEST correlation coefficient (r) ?

To correctly measure a specific property of an object,the property must be _ and _.